Suggested replacement for Klipsch Promedia 5.1 Ultra

[sisq0kidd]

Alright guys.

I've had every single speaker setup you can imagine for my computer, but have never ventured into a/v equipment built for other tasks so I really have no idea what I'm doing. I've been trying to research for the past week on receivers and subs, but am still quite lost.

Basically I want a similar sounding setup to my old Klipsch speakers for my computer/tv. I liked the sound, LOVED the sub. I can reuse my old speakers from my Klipschs, but my sub is dead.

TL;DR:

1. Klipsch Promedia 5.1 Ultra dead
2. Want to reuse speakers from it
3. Need sub and receiver?
4. Want same type of sound, same/more strength of bass
5. Budget around $300, maybe less

This is what I've been looking at as I'm too dumb to buy a receiver and sub separately.

http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-HT-S3200...8022993&sr=8-1

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

Here's the dilemma if your budget is only $300. You can get a nice receiver or a nice sub. It'll be hard to get both.

If you must, try one of these receivers

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001U6YGN0
http://www.amazon.com/Sherwood-RD651...8024565&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-RX-V365...8024578&sr=1-1

plus a sub such as one of these
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=300-633
http://www.amazon.com/BIC-V1020-Down.../dp/B0000Y2WY8

 

[sisq0kidd]

Thanks for the reply. I've seen that Dayton sub be suggested a few times, but it's been out of stock.

What about this sub right here?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002KVQBA/

Also, I would like to keep my budget around $300, but if you really think I should stretch it, I will. I was just shooting for that amount since that's how much my old klipsch system was worth.

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

The polk probably wouldn't be bad, but I havn't heard it myself or talked to anyone else who owns one, so I have no idea.

Have you considered this velodyne? http://www.amazon.com/Velodyne-VX-11.../ref=pd_cp_e_3

 

[sisq0kidd]

That velodyne looks pretty good. Still around my price range also.

Hrmm, Dayton, Polk or this Velodyne.

Would you recommend me sticking with my salvaged Klipsch speakers or do you think I should opt for new ones?

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

If you're satisfied with them, stick with what you got. Unless you lay down a bit of cash, you wont be beating the klipsch. (if you want to stick with 5.1 or more channels, you'd ideally replace all three front speakers at the same time.) Getting 2 fronts and a center isn't cheap.

 

[PM650]

:thumbsup: on the pioneer 519, if it can fit in your budget. Pioneer moved away from using Sanyo chip-amps in their lower end in favor of fully discrete amps (incidentally an exact copy of Denon's midrange design). Unfortunately yamaha and onkyo adopted using the sanyo chips in their lowest end units recently. :\

It'll be tough to beat the output of half-decent dual 8" sub with a single 10" in this budget. The velodyne does look promising, although there's also the 12" BIC for the same price. http://www.amazon.com/BIC-America-43...8032980&sr=1-3

I would avoid the polk PSW10, I had one at one point and was thoroughly unimpressed when compared to a similarly rated klipsch KSW-10.

 

[sisq0kidd]

Thanks for the feedback. I guess the sub is a big concern of mine. I don't want to switch to a weaker sub. As I said in the OP, I liked the Klipsch sub a lot.

What were you unimpressed about with the Polk?

 

[0roo0roo]

heh could you even tear apart that sub to bypass the amp?
probably possible, at worst you'd just rip that chunk out and wire straight to the speakers.
if you are going to do a save money deal with a new reciever for the time being, thats the way to go. doesn't hurt to try, its dead already. buying a new sub to match with klipsch sats...bad idea..mismatch of quality. if the klipsch is dead is probably the amp, not the sub speakers which probably work fine.

post pics of sub dissection!

 

[sisq0kidd]

I already pried the backing off of the sub. Tried looking for bad tracings or capacitors, but nothing looks broken.

I'll post pics tomorrow

 

[0roo0roo]

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1333618
pics of the 4.1 taken apart heh.

are the two drivers wired in series or parallel?

 

[sisq0kidd]

I'm not sure what the difference is or how to spot the difference, but my sub wires look exactly like those in that hardforum pic.

And yeah, my amp is dead. It makes a LOUD squealing noise when I plug it in and turn it on.

 

[PM650]

Thanks for the feedback. I guess the sub is a big concern of mine. I don't want to switch to a weaker sub. As I said in the OP, I liked the Klipsch sub a lot.

What were you unimpressed about with the Polk?

I wasn't impressed with how much it put out & how low it went, just had the sound of a cheap sub is how I can best describe it (can't really speak to how accurate it was). Klipsch tends to use more efficient drivers in their stuff, so this probably played into it somewhat, but it's doesn't seem to be such a bad idea when you're dealing with a 55W amp (the polk is 50W).

 

[sisq0kidd]

Alright, from the looks of it, the BIC seems to be a great deal. Would the 10" BIC have enough power to match my old Klipsch sub or would I have to step up to that 12"?

 

[BassBomb]

Alright, from the looks of it, the BIC seems to be a great deal. Would the 10" BIC have enough power to match my old Klipsch sub or would I have to step up to that 12"?

Yes it will more than match I am sure

 

[jdjbuffalo]

OP, I went through this same thing recently with my Klipsch Promedia 5.1 speakers.

Here is my thread and what I decided to do. http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2041794&highlight=

Let me know if you want any insights or more details.

 

[sisq0kidd]

Very informative link jdjbuffalo. Thanks for that.

I guess I'll go the same route as you. I'm either going to pick up that BIC sub or the Dayton one when it comes in stock.

 

[tweakboy]

Go with quality company.

Soo I don't get it, so basically your buying a sub woofer to replace the dead one. Here is the thing. Your amplifier was within the Klipsch sub. You can just buy woofers and connect them to what ? If I were you, the best thing you can do is buy a new Klipsch sub the same one that died. If you want more boom in bass then EQ within software. Personally I wouldn't take the bass past mid point.

Anyhow this is the simple and logical fix.

If you want we can make things confusing and get a Reciever amp and connect a sub woofer to that. Problem is a good AV reciever is 300 bones. Then the woofer another 100 bones.

Trust me just call Klipsch and get a replacement SUB/AMP unit for your Klipsch Pro Media

BTW long time ago gave my Klipsch to my Dad, After 10 years their still workin and the woofer is workin hehe. Quality products my friend... The mids is where Klipsch shines and proper highs,,,, I don't know how much their selling just the SUB/AMP unit. Let us know,, gl,

 

[sisq0kidd]

I'm going to get a receiver also. I was just determining which sub I was going with. The receiver is still up in the air as I need more opinions.

As for your fix. I would GLADLY buy a new properly built amp or sub by Klipsch if they even had that option. I'm assuming you're not familiar with the Promedia debacle?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

If you want to get it repaired, you might want to research this solution
http://www.elliot-tronics.com/

 

[sisq0kidd]

If you want to get it repaired, you might want to research this solution
http://www.elliot-tronics.com/

Yeah, I e-mailed Elliot, but reading through the Hardforums thread made me a bit wary. He charges about $120 to fix the amp, combined with my shipping costs there, that'll reach about $140-$150. It seems the average turnaround time is a couple of months too.

I'm just trying to get an idea of all the possible routes to go and what the most practical or best solution might be.

What you think Sean?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

As has been stated already, it's tough to get a good sub + receiver for $300.

If this is something you're interested in and want future expandability / upgrade options, then getting yourself started with a receiver and sub will allow you to make changes later.

One issue with connecting up the system might come into play if you're planning on doing PC gaming with this setup and lack a soundcard or integraded sound solution that does DD live or DTS connect.

If there are no connection issues, then spending the $300 to get an entry level sub and receiver will get you something that you'll likely be happy with... but probably will not be a huge upgrade over your Klipsch set. It's been several years since I heard the Klipsch 5.1 sub, so I don't remember how it was.

If you can get a receiver that has a room correction feature, that will probably help the upgrade be more worthwhile. This would help tackle issues in the limitations of the speaker / sub and how they interact in the room.

 

[sisq0kidd]

Again thanks to everyone who has helped me in this thread.

I'm pretty sure the consensus opinion is that I need to spend a bit more to have decent hardware. I will most likely go with the Dayton or BIC sub still and I'll check out that Pioneer receiver this weekend at Best Buy. I'll do some more research on better receivers too.

I didn't even think about needing a proper sound card. Thanks for reminding me, and damn... it adds up.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I mention the connection issue because you will probably want to connect digitally to your new receiver rather than with analog. If you connect digitally, you'll get 2 channel for music and such, and multichannel for sources that are pre-encoded with DD or DTS.

So, music will work fine, and movies will work fine.

For games, you'll likely run into trouble unless you have a sound solution that will encode the multichannel sound from games into a DD or DTS stream that the receiver can decode.

If games aren't important to you, or you'd be willing to deal with a pseudo-surround mode selected on the receiver end, then you don't have to worry about it.

It may be that your integrated sound has this feature though, so it might not mean any new purchase.

 

[Tegeril]

Go with quality company.

Soo I don't get it, so basically your buying a sub woofer to replace the dead one. Here is the thing. Your amplifier was within the Klipsch sub. You can just buy woofers and connect them to what ? If I were you, the best thing you can do is buy a new Klipsch sub the same one that died. If you want more boom in bass then EQ within software. Personally I wouldn't take the bass past mid point.

Anyhow this is the simple and logical fix.

If you want we can make things confusing and get a Reciever amp and connect a sub woofer to that. Problem is a good AV reciever is 300 bones. Then the woofer another 100 bones.

Trust me just call Klipsch and get a replacement SUB/AMP unit for your Klipsch Pro Media

BTW long time ago gave my Klipsch to my Dad, After 10 years their still workin and the woofer is workin hehe. Quality products my friend... The mids is where Klipsch shines and proper highs,,,, I don't know how much their selling just the SUB/AMP unit. Let us know,, gl,

Buying a replacement sub for the Ultras is like buying borrowed time. They fail often and aren't made anymore. You're just going to be in this situation again in the future. I had the non ultras, have boxed my speakers for now, sub is gone.